TOPICDC2011 – A Capital ConferenceSPEAKERMarlene BishowMarlene Bishow will provide a preview of the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to take place in Washington, DC August 14-19, 2011.

This program will address the exciting plans being organized right now. Hosted by the JGSGW. Attendees will be able to take advantage of repositories and resources in this vibrant metropolitan area. The conference hotel, the Grand Hyatt Washington, is just five blocks from the National Archives, close to the White House, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and the restored Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Orientation sessions given by staff of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Archives, and Library of Congress will help prepare attendees to navigate each of these repositories with maximum efficiency and success.

Through more than 150 lectures, the program will feature presentations on the records of the International Tracing Service (ITS) and the release of the 1940 United States Census, as well as a myriad of other topics and geographical areas. The conference will promote the SIGs, BOFs and family societies, with a SIG Fair and special interest meetings at breakfasts, lunches and dinners.Marlene Katz Bishow is a native of the Bronx, grew up in Flushing, NY, and has been a genealogist for 54 years. She is currently the President of the JGS of Greater Washington (JGSGW). Marlene is the Editor of two of the society’s publications: “Capital Collections: Resources for Jewish Genealogical Research in the Washington, DC Area” and “Jump-Start Your Jewish Genealogical Research: A Beginner’s Guide.” She is also the presently the Co-Chair for Programs for the forthcoming 31st IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy.

POSTSCRIPTJewishGen with Karen Franklin and Gary MokotoffA short presentation on JewishGen will be followed by a lively discussion about the needs of the Jewish genealogical community, the role of JewishGen, the future of the field and what we can do to attract new users and younger family historians.

Karen Franklin and Gary Mokotoff will be avid listeners on the subject of JewishGen and ways it can be improved to serve the needs of its users. They are eager to bring your ideas back to the JewishGen volunteers, staff and Board of Governors. Recommendations from a similar session last spring in Washington have already been implemented.

Gary Mokotoff is an author, lecturer and leader of Jewish genealogy. He has been recognized by three major genealogical organizations for his achievements. He is the first person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS); recipient of Lifetime Membership in the Association of Professional Genealogists; and the Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern Humanitarian Award of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. He has been on a number of Boards of Directors including the Federation of Genealogical Societies, JewishGen, Association of Professional Genealogists, Association of Jewish Book Publishers and Jewish Book Council. He is co-chair of the Board of Governors of JewishGen.

Karen S. Franklin is currently a guest curator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. A co-chair of the Board of Governors of JewishGen, she is a past president of the IAJGS and a past chair of the Council of American Jewish Museums. Mrs. Franklin serves on the board of the ICOM’s (International Council of American Museums) - Memorial Museums Committee. She is also a juror for the Obermayer German Jewish History Award. Karen was the only director of a Jewish museum ever to be elected to the board of the American Association of Museums. A researcher on looted art, she has worked on cases in Europe and the United States.

Five Brothers (Comme les cinq doigts de la main)Opening Night Film at Festival

A great Sephardic cultural resource is the forthcoming 15th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, scheduled for March 10-16, 2011, at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Featured on opening night is the French drama by Alexandre Arcady “Five Brothers (Comme les cinq doigts de la main)” about an Algerian Jewish family which stars Patrick Bruel, Vincent Elbaz, Pascal Elbe, Eric Caravaca and Mathieu Delarive.

A preview can be seen below:

The festival’s thematic content encompasses actual historical/biographical pieces to drama and covers Jews (not all necessarily Sephardic) from Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, India, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, and Spain. Three historical films are: “In the Beginning was a School” which covers the 150 years of the French educational organization Alliance Israelite Universelle; “Jubanos: The Jews of Cuba”; and “Next Year in Bombay” which is about the Bene Israel community.

Several of the biographical films deal with such topics as “Baghdad-Jerusalem-Fez”, a story about Yair Dalal, a wonderful Iraqi Jewish musician; “Ronit Elkabetz: “A Stranger in Paris”, about the actress and filmmaker and recipient of the American Sephardi Federation Pomegranate Award at the Festival”; “Zohra Elfassia”, the great Moroccan Jewish singer; “Vidal Sassoon the Movie”, regarding British self-made man; and “Yolande: An Unsung Heroine”, the story of an Egyptian-Jewish spy; and “I Had a Dream”, the story of Ethiopean Jewish leader Yona Bugale.

Ava Cohn, The Photo Genealogist is the guest speaker at the March 9 meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County. The meeting will be held at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach, FL.

As Sherlock Cohn, the Jewish genealogy sleuth, she will demonstrate how and why it is important to mine the clues our ancestors left in their photos. Whether families came from Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Galicia, Romania, Germany or other parts of Eastern Europe or the world, whether they were Ashkenazic or Sephardic, they left very personal records of their lives in the photographs and portraits for which they sat. Analyzing Jewish family photographs presents unique challenges unlike those of any other ethnic groups.

“Sherlock” will show how accurate photo dating, photo identification, knowledge of fashion and artifact history, and matching of vital records can illuminate relatives’ lives, and help solve some of the vexing family genealogy mysteries.

Cohn has made it her mission to help as many Jewish genealogists as possible to recover the personal information that their ancestors knew when they had their portraits originally taken and as such, specializes in the period of most Jewish photographs, 1880-1960.

Ms. Cohn holds a BA degree in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University with coursework in decorative arts, art history, and costume history at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A former marketing executive, she has been studying her family history as a hobby for over 30 years and full time since 2005.

The Poland/Belarus Special Interest Group will meet 11:30 am-12:15 pm in Rooms 1 and 2 with Paul Baranik and Marvin Lopatin, 11:30 am-12:15 pm

Genealogy mentors are available after the presentation. Guests are welcome. There is a guest fee of $5 for those who wish to attend either the Special Interest Group or the general meeting. The guest fee may be applied toward membership dues.

One of the latest additions to Ancestry.com’s arsenal of helpful databases is the U.S., Consular Reports of Marriages, 1910-1949. Not only can one search by country and/or name of individual, but when the records are obtained, there is an enormous amount of information in the images of the marriages certificates which are produced in English as follows:

Surname

Consulate location

Date

Birth place

Age

Spouse’s name

Local residence

Witness’s name

Marriage officiator

In addition to the American consular certificate, there are extra pages of documentation in a number of cases which provide the names of the Rabbis performing the ceremonies or information about the Jewish community in the area or the marital pair. It is helpful to search on the next page or two after the main certificate in case such information has been provided.

One way to locate family is to search by country where the consular office was located and I happily looked for countries where my genealogical interests lie such as Latvia, which had 156 entries, Lithuania, which had 10 entries, and Russia, which had 206 entries, as well as South Africa, which had 414 entries and (what was then) Palestine, which had 608 entries.

When searching by country one will usually find a lot of entries, but be aware that not all entries are for Jewish couples and there maybe double entries for each couple involved in the marriage with one separate entry for the groom and one for the bride.

Unfortunately, for genealogical purposes, the names of the parents of the marital party are not included in this database and this prevents the researcher from sometimes authenticating exactly who the individuals are. One of the examples in this regard is the following couple who were married in Latvia:

On February 7, 1928, Carl Kasriel Schuel, age 37 years, May 16, 1890, born Daugavpils, Latvia, living at 492 Saratoga Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, was married to Fanija Fanny Gafanovich, age 31, May 25, 1896, born Kupiskis, Lithuania, living in Latvia. A passenger list reports that the couple came to New York on September 21, 1928, following their marriage in Latvia.

In regard to the bride, Fanija, her last name of Gafanovich is a very common name, particularly in Kupiskis. Since no parents’ names are given, one would need to locate their names in order to tell who she was. There are no birth records before 1900 in Kupiskis, so that option is out. One of the members of the Kupiskis SIG is Anschel Strauss who has spent decades documenting the Gafanovich families in Kupiskis and when contacted, he found that he did not have a Fanija listed in his records.

The Ancestry.com death records, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), list Fanny Schuel’s last residence when she died in February 4, 1970, as Brooklyn, NY. Searching the JewishGen JOWBR database did not produce a record of her tombstone, which, if found, would tell who her father was. Also, searching all of the on-line cemetery databases for New York proved to be of no avail.

Further, on Ancestry.com, there was another listing for a Fanny B. Schuel who had died in 1970 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, according to the Florida Death Index. This may have meant that Fanny was a “snow-bird”, a winter visitor to Florida, who happened to have passed away during her stay there.

This was quite fortuitous as that meant she might have been buried in one of the cemeteries I was familiar with as opposed to being buried in a cemetery in New York. Rather than spend the money on a death certificate to confirm which cemetery it was (whether in Miami-Dade County or New York), it is possible to contact several of the local cemeteries to see if she was buried there. This may prove to be fruitful, but will take some time to accomplish.

As to Fanny Schuel’s husband, he is found in quite a number of records which provide the information that his mother was Ethel Schuel, born 1865, and died May 23, 1933, in Brooklyn, NY, and his sister was Sarah Schuel who married Wolf Salovostak, born in Minsk, Belarus. They had two children Fannie, born 1913, in Daugavpils, and Bennie, born 1917, in Denmark. At one point, Sarah is listed as Solovitz in 1942.

The Daugavpils records which have been translated by the redoubtable Christine Usdin do not mention Ethel or who her husband might have been or her two children. There is the possibility that Ethel’s husband may have been a Benjamin and that Carl Schuel named his child Bennie for him.

To carry on with other aspects of the Consular Marriages, it appeared that the marriages in the database were performed in embassies, civil registries, courts, synagogues, hotels and private residences which amounted to quite a variety of venues. An example of one of these marriages is that of Esther Abraham, born in Safed, Palestine, age 41, who married Herman Eisenberg, age 68, born Russia, but an American citizen, living in Jaffa, Palestine, on August 25, 1921, in the American Consulate in Jerusalem. Another is that of Devora Abramovitz, born 1907, in Petah-Tikvah, a U.S. citizen, who was now residing in Jerusalem, who married on July 1, 1927, in the house of Mr. Isaac Ellshstein, Nehemia Saloman, a citizen of Palestine who was born 1903 and was residing in Jerusalem.

A fascinating entry is that of the marriage of Julia Aronson, born 1895 in Zozmorah (sp.?), Poland, the daughter of Shalom Aronson and Hannah Raizel. She married Alexander M. Dushkin, born 1891, in Suwalki, Poland, a U.S. citizen, living in Jerusalem, on July 4, 1921, in the home of Miss H. Szord (sp.?), Jerusalem.

Upon looking closely at the marriage certificate, one can see that the person in whose home the marriage took place was none other than Miss Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah. It appeared that the bridal couple was amongst Henrietta Szold’s closest friends in Palestine.

The groom was a well-known and outstanding New York Jewish educator who founded the Department of Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His wife Julia was a dietician and active member of the Hadassah organization in Palestine. Her sister was married to Israel Friedlaender, Professor of Biblical Literature, at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who later founded the Young Israel movement.

In a listing of a marriage for a South African couple, all sorts of facts unfold. The marriage of Mark Joachim Zurel, born 1925, and Henriette Ludel, born 1926, took place on September 26, 1948, in Temple Israel in Johannesburg. Both the bride and groom were born in Amsterdam and were living in Johannesburg.

It might have been thought, due to the date of the marriage, that they were both Holocaust survivors. However, that was not true as passenger lists prove that Joachim Zurel, age 32, born 1893, and Jansche (Jeanne) de Jong, age 32, born 1893, and son Mark, age 1, 1924, came to South Africa on the Armadale Castle, departing from Southampton on December 12, 1925, and that they made a number of other trips back to Europe after that.

However, Henriette Ludel, only came to South Africa in 1945. In addition, there was another family of that name, the Bernard Ludel family, who also came to South Africa from the Netherlands. It is thought then that perhaps Henriette was a Holocaust survivor.

One of the unique things one finds in these marriage records are the ceremonies of the Jews who were married in China. There were approximately a total of 9,620 marriages listed in China itself, although a very tiny percentage of these were Jewish. Many were refugees or were serving in either business or military capacities.

One of the places where marriages occurred was in the Chesed-El Synagogue in Singapore, then a part of the Straits Settlements. In 1905, it became the second synagogue founded in Singapore.

Chesed-El Synagogue, Singapore(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Two marriages were solemnized by Hazan Rev. Ezra Meir in the Chesed-El Synagogue for sisters Esther and Ada Frankel, both born in Singapore, who married Americans Lester L. Goodman of Phoenix, AZ, and Hart Richard Aaron of San Francisco, CA, in April 17, 1924 and September 29, 1929 respectively.

Another locale was the town of Tientsin or Tianjin as it came to be known as. One such was the January 15, 1920 marriage of Joseph Litman Abramovitch an American citizen who was born in Braila, Rumania, and Shlima Mochman, who was born in Sorok, Grodnensky district, Russia, both of whom were living in Tientsin.

Further information regarding the Jews of Tientsin or Tianjin can be found in two books: “China Dreams, Growing Up Jewish in Tientsin” by Isabelle Zimmerman Maynard and “The Jews in Tianjin” by Anna Song.

The town of Shanghai was another place where there were a number of Jews who married. There were two sisters, Ruth and Sophia Begelman, who were born in Denver, Colorado, the daughters of Morris and Anna Begelman, who were living in Shanghai, China, and who married there.

Another marriage was performed in the town of Chefoo, China, on September 19, 1932, between Maurice Begelman, who was from Brooklyn, NY, and was serving in the Navy aboard the USS Black Hawk and who married Polish refugee Chaja-Leja (Helen) Piasecka from Neahowic, Poland. One can see her in the Index to Ledger listing in handwriting persons registered at the Polish consulate in Shanghai, 1934-1941, on the basis of documents issued by Polish authorities. Approximately 60% of those listed in this document were Jewish.

In addition, one can find much more about Maurice Begelman and his military service on Ancestry.com as his Navy muster roll and burial at Arlington National Cemetery are included there.

An interesting marriage occurred on October 26, 1930, at the residence in Harbin of Rabbi Aaron M. Kiseleff, chief rabbi of the Japanese and Manchurian Jewish communities, between Isidor Spivak, born in Uman, Russia, a US citizen living in Harbin, and Sopia L. Anshelevich, born in Melitopol, Russia, a Russian citizen, living in Harbin. Mr. Spivak’s passport number was given which would be a good clue to locating more information.

Information on the Harbin Jewish community can be obtained in the book “Jews in China,”which has a very nice photograph of Rabbi Kiseleff and other leaders on page 1919.Another fine resource is the JewishGen ShtetLinks site for Harbin. This site provides many items which can be researched regarding the settlements of Jews in China.

One other Chinese marriage of interest was the one which took place October 19, 1936, in the Jewish Synagogue, Wusih Road, Tientsin, China, performed by Rabbi Shevel Levin, between Morris Gold, age 52, a U.S. citizen, born in Lomza, Poland, living in Peiping, China, and Leya Weingort Udelstein, age 44, no nationality, born in Ostrow, Poland, and living in Peiping, China. As one can see, marriages took place amongst the young as well as older couples in those times when people were fleeing the ravages of war or found themselves in remote foreign lands.

A unique group of Jewish marriages were those that were performed in Mexico. A majority of them seem to be listed as civil marriages with no indication of their religion other than their “Jewish-sounding” names. For instance, the Jews who are listed amongst the 598 marriages in Mexico City, appeared to have married spouses who were Jewish and some non-Jews too. Many were either born outside Mexico in Eastern Europe or were Americans who just happened to be in Mexico.

One such example of a Mexican marriage is that performed by a Judge on April 7, 1925, of Irwing (probably Irving and incorrectly typed on certificate) Gold, age 29, born in Russia, living in Chicago, Illinois, and Esther Kutzubei, age 26, born Tiraspol, Russia, living in Mexico City, Mexico. Other couples, to be found in the marriage records were Harry Zichlin and Flora Grabelski Frimet, Harry W. Froehlich and Anneliese Rothschild, Bernard Katz and Helen Goldberg, Jacob Goldman and Doba Finkleberg, Kisil Schatz and Sylvia Marie Levine, Marcos Braslavcky Levinson and Ernestine Neuhauzer Schwartz, and Zalme Zylbercweig and Cila Zuckerberg.

Another way to conduct a search in the Consular Marriages Database is to look by family name such as COHEN and one will find a variety of them, approximately 78, listed in countries such as Algeria, China, Cuba, Egypt, England, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, Palestine, Turkey, and Wales.

An example is that of the marriage performed by Rev. Nathan Isaacs on February 9, 1921, at The Assembly Rooms, Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, England, of Eli David Wolf, age 32, a U.S. citizen, born in Manchester, England, and living in Columbia, Tennessee, and Annie Cohen, age 27, a citizen of Great Britain, born in Manchester, England, and residing there.

Looking further, one can find the 1920 U.S. Census listing for the Wolf family made up of Jake Wolf, age 56, his wife Rachal, age 50, and son Eli D., age 31. The parents were born in Minsk, Belarus, and they came to America in 1904, and Jake Wolf was the manager of a shoe store. Eli’s World War I Draft Registration provides his exact birth date of December 20, 1887, and the fact that he is the manager of Wolf Sample Shoe Company, in Columbia, Tennessee. Also, that his father is solely dependent on him in business as he does not read or write English.

As one can see, the Consular Marriages are quite a revealing group of records which document the varied travels and loves of Jews during the turbulent period of 1910-1949 when wars, revolutions, and other incidents as well as business interests caused Jews to sometimes live in remote and exotic locales throughout the world. It also points to the fact that many American citizens who are reflected in these Consular Marriages were recent emigrants to America.

Not included in the recent statement on the effect of proposed budget reductions by US Archivist David S. Ferriero, was the proposed closure of the National Archives at the Boston-Pittsfield Annex, effective October 1, 2011. Archivist Ferriero stated: "This facility houses Archives microfilm publications and public access computers serving about 1,800 researchers during the last fiscal year. I regret that this decision will affect two long-time Archives employees who run this center. They will be offered other positions at other facilities within the National Archives system and we will pay their relocation expenses."

There is a larger National Archives Regional Office in Waltham, Massachusetts, located about 130 miles from the Pittsfield Annex.

I reported the Archivist's statement on this forum earlier regarding cutbacks due to reduced spending levels at the National Archives-due to funding reductions in President Obama's FY 2012 proposed budget and its effect on the National Archives. The proposed budget would reduce the National Archives budget about 8.2% from the FY budget 2011 request.

Thank you to Dick Eastman and the Eastman Online Genealogy Newsletter for alerting us to the closure of the Pittsfield facility. This was also confirmed by a spokesman from the National Archives.

President Obama sent his proposed federal FY 2012 budget request to Congress earlier this week. In the proposed budget for the National Archives he called for an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011 request. Congress has not yet passed a FY 2011 budget and the government is running under a continuing resolution holding spending levels at the 2010 level for at least the National Archives. The details of which areas are being effected in operations to save funds is discussed in the following press release by US Archivist David S. Ferriero:http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-78.html

Following the release of the proposed FY 2012 budget, rumors started to abound including on digests, blogs etc. as to which staff would be let go, and which services stopped. To put the proposed reduced budget funding into a realistic picture and correct the rumors that were fast multiplying, Archivist Ferriero responded with a statement indicating across the board cuts would not work and the difficult choice was made to reduce the library program in the Washington, DC area by October 1, 2011. No new purchases will be made at the Washington site for the collections. Both the Washington DC area Archives I and II will remain open but with reduced staff. The staff effected will be reassigned. To read Archivist Ferriero's statement go to:http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-80.html

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will be meeting on March 6, 2011-Sunday, 1:00 pm-5:00 pm at the Los Angles Family History Library.

The Topic:Assisted Research Afternoon at the L.A. Family History Library (LAFHL)

The JGSCV March 6 meeting is a field trip to the Los Angeles Family History Library (LAFHL) i10741 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, where senior members of JGSCV and volunteers from the LAFHL will help other members with their personal genealogy, and LAFHL resources including computer assistance with many popular genealogical databases including Ancestry.com, Footnote.Com, Heritage Quest, World Vital Records and Godfrey Memorial Library on-line resources. The FHL has recently been renovated and increased the number of computers so more people can use the resources simultaneously. There are Jewish microfilms of Eastern Europe and a selection of others, and maps and gazetteers.

Barbara Algaze, volunteer at the LAFHL, and librarian for our sister society, JGSLA, will give an introduction to the resources at the LAFHL.

This meeting is open only to current dues-paid members of JGSCV although anyone may join at the door. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a family.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history. There is no charge to attend the meeting.

For more information see our website:Jan Meisels AllenPresident, JGSCV

President Obama sent his proposed federal FY 2012 budget request to Congress earlier this week. In the proposed budget for the National Archives he called for an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011 request. Congress has not yet passed a FY 2011 budget and the government is running under a continuing resolution holding spending levels at the 2010 level for at least the National Archives. The details of which areas are being effected in operations to save funds is discussed in the following press release by US Archivist David S. Ferriero:http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-78.html

Following the release of the proposed FY 2012 budget, rumors started to abound including on digests, blogs etc. as to which staff would be let go, and which services stopped. To put the proposed reduced budget funding into a realistic picture and correct the rumors that were fast multiplying, Archivist Ferriero responded with a statement indicating across the board cuts would not work and the difficult choice was made to reduce the library program in the Washington, DC area by October 1, 2011. No new purchases will be made at the Washington site for the collections. Both the Washington DC area Archives I and II will remain open but with reduced staff. The staff effected will be reassigned. To read Archivist Ferriero's statement go to:http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2011/nr11-80.html

Hearings have been set for two Maine bills which you may find of interest as they effect access to vital records. Both bills are set for their initial hearings before the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services March 2, 10:00AM Room 209, Cross Office Building, Augusta, Maine.

LD 258/HP 0211Previously, it was reported on this forum about Maine LD 258 http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_125th/billpdfs/HP021101.pdf.which attempts to undue some of the burdensome provisions enacted during the last legislative session.The new bill as currently drafted requires:· records custodians to permit inspection of records, issuing of certified or informational copies of vital records;· deletes the provision prohibiting the public from obtaining details within vital records;· adds to the existing list of those who may obtain records at any time, collateral descendants, grandparents, genealogists;· deletes the 100 year rule for anyone to obtain records and instead states anyone may inspect, transcribe or abstract birth certificates, fetal death certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates and registrations of domestic partnerships created after 1893; and · deletes the requirement that genealogical researchers must annually obtain a research card (currently $50 per year).

Includes "or a personal representative designated in that person's will" as someone who can get a death certificate. It also would amend the provision regarding genealogists being required to obtain research card, by reducing the fee from $50 annually to $25 every two years. The genealogist would be required to belong to a genealogy society or organization (the bill is silent as to whether membership in any genealogy society would meet the criteria). This provision of belonging to a genealogy society was included in last year's bill now law PL 601 Maine Statutes of 2010.

There is a possibility that the two bills may be combined during the hearing.

When more information is available including the IAJGS statement it will be posted to the IAJGS Legislative Alert on the IAJGS website and a notice of the update will be posted to this forum.

Nancy Holden will be available February 25 - March 25 for projects centered on research in the United States or the Pale of Russia (Latvia to Southern Russia). This session will follow the format of other JewishGen Education classes using a Forum and one-on -one consultations via the internet.

In order to qualify for this class we ask that you submit a paragraph about your project. Your SURNAME, your towns, your goals.

PROGRAMRecognition of “Unsung Heroes” and long time members of JGSPBI. Entertainment by “The Amazing Bottle Dancers”

The program, in celebration of this milestone 20th anniversary, will feature the renowned “Amazing Bottle Dancers,” who will perform in the style of their Eastern European ancestors. Also included in the program is a salute to long time members and the “Unsung Heroes” of the Society.

The cost for a member or spouse is $30, guests $35 per person. There is amply free parking. Mail reservations to Cindy Taylor, 8105 Florenza Drive, Boynton Beach, FL, 33472. . The Luncheon fee for a member or spouse is $30.00, guests $35.00,

Registration is at 11:30 am, refreshments on the Patio. Lunch and program are at noon in the main ballroom.

At the 2008 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Chicago) there was a session with Randoll Schoenberg on "Recovering Nazi Looted Art- A Genealogist's Tale". Randoll is a Los Angeles based attorney --and Jewish genealogist - he is the co-founder of the Austria-Czech SIG, and was the attorney who successfully won in the US Supreme Court to be able to sue, and in the Austrian Courts the return of the Klimt portrait for his client Maria Altmann. The return of the valuable portrait that was taken by the Nazis was a remarkable event.

The following is the obituary of Maria Altmann who died at age 94 and the article retells the story of the return of the portrait.http://tinyurl.com/4q9yf2f

The Registrar General of Scotland announced that on April 5, 2011 the General Register Office for Scotland will release details on over 4.7 million Scots. The records will include the name, address, age, occupation, birthplace and marital status of everyone included in the 1911 census--and details about their children. This is the last population census taken before World War I, therefore, this will be the last time mentioned in a Scotland census for those who perished in that War.

A census is taken every 10 years in Great Britain and released after 100 years. The 2011 census will be taken on March 27.

Well, the encouraging wide range of activity of the Yizkor Book Project that we saw last year, continued through January. I'm particularly pleased to report that an additional Yizkor Book has now been completely translated - the Ruzhany Yizkor Book. This project was coordinated over many years by Edith Taylor and Brian Zakem and I have great admiration for the enviable persistence and energy shown by them in seeing this project to its successful completion. In addition, I am also pleased to report that during this past month the complete translation of the Daugavplis (Dvinsk), Latvia was graciously donated to the Yizkor Book Project by Joel Gardner and this translation now appears online.

Ruzhany, by-the-way, is a very successful example of a Translation Fund which was created in order to raise funds for the professional translation of the Ruzhany Yizkor Book. Recently, a number of projects were added to the growing list of Translation Funds and await your needed and most important support. The projects recently added are Kurow, Poland, Lowicz, Poland and Volodymyr Volynskyy (Ludmir), Ukraine. If you feel able to assist and these translations are important to you please make your donation on this page.

Many, many thanks in advance.

Finally, I would like to thank Osnat Hazan for the excellent work she is doing in managing the YBMNI Project. She is working together with a merry band of dedicated volunteers in extracting names from the online Yizkor Book projects to help build a searchable index for the benefit of all researchers and I have included her report on recent additions to this index, at the end of my own.

And on volunteers - we are urgently in need of translators, necrology transliterators and htmlers to help us with the large volume of material that we would like to place online. If you feel you have some time available for one of these important tasks, I would be more than very happy to hear from you.

Now to the January figures. During this last month we have added these 6 newprojects:

Bivolari, Romania (Our town Bivolari)

Daugavpils, Latvia (In Memory of the Community of Dvinsk)

Derecske, Hungary (Memorial book to the Jews of Derecske and its environs)

Tarnogrod, Poland (Book of Tarnogrod; in memory of the destroyed Jewish

community)

Tuchin, Ukraine (Tuczin-Kripa, Wolyn; in Memory of the Jewish Community)

Zborov, Ukraine (Memorial book of the community of Zborow)

Added in 17 new entries for the following projects:

Blaszki, Poland (Pinkas Poland)

Gadunavas, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Garliava, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gastynai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Geguzine, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Geleziai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gelgaudiskis, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Giedraiciai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gintaliske, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Girkalnis, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Givyai Skrudziai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gudeliai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gudiniskiai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Gudziunai, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

Jezow, Poland (Pinkas Poland)

Ujazd, Poland (Pinkas Poland)

Ukmerge, Lithuania (Pinkas Lita)

We have continued to update 19 of our existing projects:

Bedzin, Poland (A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Bendin)

Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland (Book of the Jewish community of Dabrowa Gornicza and its destruction)

Washington State: HB 1241This bill would permit anyone to access death certificates after 50 years from date of death on the certificate. Access to death certificates would be limited before 50 years to specified individuals. Genealogists are not included in those who have access before the 50 years. Currently there is no time limitation to obtain death records. As of this posting no hearings areyet scheduled. To read the bill, please visit:http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1241.pdf

In reading legislation, generally, underlined wording is the proposed new wording, and crossed out wording is that which is being deleted.

If you learn of any legislation or regulation--not only in North America--that affects access to records, please let me know as the IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee (PRAMC) would like to review it.

About the programHistorians and authors Roger Moorhouse and Daniel Silver will look at Berlin under Nazism using memoirs, diaries and interviews as well as focusing on the amazing story of the Jewish Hospital which miraculously functioned through the war. They tell Ben Barkow (Director, Wiener Library) of the amzing stories they discovered. To learn more, please click here:

The January 2011 edition of the JewishGen Success! Stories webzine can now be accessed by clicking here.

Meredith Hoffman and Nancy Siegel have worked with the authors to edit these stories of ancestor and family connections made through JewishGen -- the kinds of success stories we regularly read about on the JewishGen mailing lists and discussion groups.

Do you have a similar success story? We would love to publish it! Please send us a note by clicking here.

A group of Maine genealogists have been working with Maine legislators to have legislation amend the law enacted in 2010 PL 601 which changed Maine from an "open access" state for accessing vital records to one that permitted anyone to have access after 100 years, and permitted genealogical researchers to have access to non-certified copies if they obtained a researcher card annually --current charge $50. The law became effective July 1, 2010 and the rule making process is still in the legal review phase without yet having the public review and comment.

The new bill, LD 258 also known as HP0211, was introduced and assigned to the Maine House Health and Human Services Committee. No hearings have yet been scheduled. The new bill as currently drafted requires:

records custodians to permit inspection of records, issuing of certified or informational copies of vital records;

deletes the provision prohibiting the public from obtaining details within vital records;

adds to the existing list of those who may obtain records at anytime, collateral descendants, grandparents, genealogists;

deletes the 100 year rule for anyone to obtain records and instead states anyone may inspect, transcribe or abstract birth certificates, fetal death certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates andregistrations of domestic partnerships created after 1893; and

deletes the requirement that genealogical researchers must annually obtain a research card (currently $50 per year).

As with any legislation amendments will be made. To read the current draft, please click here. Language that is being added is underlined; language that is being deleted is crossed out.

As more information becomes available, it will be made available on this forum.

Genealogy or perhaps “Jewnealogy”? If you've ever wondered where your ancestors came from or how many generations back your family is Jewish then finally you can get some definite answers and see your history as reflected in each piece of your chromosomes.

23andMe, a private biotechnology company from California, is now offering a unique DNA test, which can tell whether your ancestral origins were Jewish. The test measures approximately one million singles letters of DNA, scattered across the genome and can show some of the rarest genetic traits.

Traditionally, DNA test have been based on only two small parts of the human genome. The first is the Y-chromosome, which is usually inherited from the father as-is by the son. The second part is the mitochondria, which is passed from mothers to her children.

Click here to read the entire article and here to learn more about DNA testing from JewishGen's DNA partners.

A woman who rescued a synagogue that had been turned into a barn was one of six recipients of the 11th annual Obermayer German Jewish History Awards.

The ceremony, held Jan. 24 at the Berlin Parliament House, was one of several events commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet soldiers on Jan. 27, 1945.

The Obermayer awards recognize Germans who preserve local Jewish history and build contacts with Jews who fled during the Nazi years. Arthur Obermayer, an American Jewish businessman who was inspired by his contacts with historians in his family's ancestral town of Creglingen, created the awards.

During Kristallnacht in November, 1938, the destruction of the Jewish community of Mainz, Germany, and its institutions began. At that time, the city had over 200 synagogues and the greatest of them was the Mainz Neue Synagogue which was destroyed.

After World War II, there was a resurgence of the Jewish community in Germany which has resulted in approximately 900-1,000 Jews in Mainz and the surrounding area, many coming from the former Soviet Union. This resurgence has helped in the rebuilding of the institutions of Jewish life which includes the Neue Synagogue.

Now called the Meor Hagolah Synagogue, it is named in memory of Mainz’s most famous son, Rabbeinu Gershom ben Judah, who was known as Me’or HaGolah, “the Light of the Exile”. It was Gershom ben Judah (born circa 960 and died circa 1028 or 1040) who founded a great yeshivah in Mainz. It became the leading torah academy of its time in Europe. His disciples were many and they spread their learning to other scholars who became well-known torah luminaries such as Rashi. The impact of Gershom ben Judah was so great in both his teaching and his rabbinic pronouncements that one might consider him the father of Ashkenazi Judaism.

The new Meor Hagolah Synagogue was dedicated on November 3, 2010, and in attendance were many individuals including survivors and their families and former residents of Mainz. For those interested in learning more about actual families who came from Mainz, there are 154 entries in the JewishGen Family Finder of those researching their roots in Mainz. These include the families of long-time JewishGen researchers Arlene Sachs (Kahn family) and Dick Plotz (Schwab family).

The Meor Hagolah Synagogue was designed by Jewish architect Manuel Herz, who took a modern tack rather than a rebuilding of the structure in the old formal design. The design features the utilization of new materials and colors and contains 2,500 square meters of space which encompass a community center, lecture halls, offices and public spaces. One can see the difference when one compares the present building as shown above with the old one seen in the post card below.

Mainz Neue Synagogue, 1916

The only part of the synagogue to survive the destruction which occurred in 1938 is the portico in front which can be seen below.

Remains of the Mainz Neue Synagogue(Courtesy of Quinn Jacobson, 2008)

The beauty of the new building can also be seen in the religious symbolism reflected in the unusual feature of Hebrew lettering which is found on the interior walls. This represents quotations from a number of 10th Century Mainz rabbis of the past. In addition, this symbolism is found in the exterior and elevations of the new synagogue which are based on the shape of the Hebrew letters for the Kedusha, , the third blessing of the Amidah prayer as seen below:

The Kedusha Design of the Meor Hagolah Synagogue(Courtesy of The Forward)

Apart from the beautiful new synagogue, the town of Mainz itself is a veritable historical museum for Ashkenazi Jewry with the first Jews coming there with the Romans and a well-documented history during the Crusades. Further, the first written sentence in Yiddish has been found there in a listing of Jews who were killed in the First Crusade of 1095 AD; it is also known for the Rosh Hashanah piyut “Unesaneh Tokef” which has been attributed primarily to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, and for so many other things such as the development of moveable type by Johannes Gutenberg, a native of Mainz, which enabled the widespread publication of books and documents.

For those wishing to learn more about Mainz (known as “Magenza” in Hebrew/”Mayence” in French), you can visit this site, which provides a number of very helpful links to resources for information about the town and its Jewish population.

Additionally, for further information on the synagogue and the Mainz Jewish community’s history, please watch the following YouTube segment:

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will be meeting on February 13, 2010-Sunday, 1:30-3:30 pm at Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks, CA.

The Topic: Why Did Our Ancestors Leave a Nice Place Like the Pale **

In 1880, fully 80 percent of our ancestors lived in Poland and Pale of Jewish Settlement in western Russia. We all know of the pogroms (organized violence) and mass exodus of our ancestors to points west over the next generation. This talk will provide background on the 120 years of the Pale from its formation at the turn of the 19th century to its dissolution duringthe First World War. It will provide some context to our ancestor's lives in the Pale, and of course, their decision to leave everything they had known to make new lives in the West.

** The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia [it included much of present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, and parts of western Russia], in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited. It extended from the eastern pale, or demarcation line, to the western Russian border with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. [Wikipedia.org]

Speaker: Hal Bookbinder has been researching eight family lines for over 27 years, identifying 4,000 relatives and tracing two of these lines into the mid 1700s. A founding member of JGSCV, and former president of JGSLA and IAJGS, he created and continues to edit the annual Jewish Genealogical Yearbook. In 2010, Hal received the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award for his various contributions to Jewish Genealogy. Hal was recently elected to theJewishGen Board of Governors. He has spoken at numerous conferences, synagogues and society meetings on topics from computing to geography to brick walls.

Our "Schmoozing Corner" will be facilitated by JGSCV board member and accomplished genealogist, Marion Werle. The "Corner" is available for 15 minutes before the meeting to answer questions attendees may have about their genealogy.

In lieu of our monthly book report, as a result of last month's program with our members who authored books, and the resulting interest on self-publishing, Sara Applebaum, JGSCV member, who spoke about her book, will discuss self-publishing at the beginning of the program.

Our rotating traveling library will have Categories A and D. To see which books are listed under which category, please go to our website, www.JGSCV.org and look under traveling library. The books are available starting 30 minutes before the program to shortly after the program.

We have started our 2011 membership renewal drive and anyone interested in membership may find an application on our website.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history. There is no charge to attend the meeting.

The meeting is co-sponsored with and held at Temple Adat Elohim, Thousand Oaks, CA For more information including directions to the meeting, see our website www.jgscv.org

Yad Vashem and Google have announced a partnership where Yad Vashem's photo collection --130,000 photos--will be made accessible and viewable in full resolution on-line. This is the first step of brining Yad Vashem's archive online.

One of the suggestions I made at the (2010) IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy Management Workshop on Affordable, Creative Programming was the use of webinars to bring speakers to your genealogy society at no or little cost. Its a great tool, especially for smaller JGSs to be able to bring in speakers without travel costs as attendees can be in different locations as well as the speaker.

Thomas MacEntee, who was the IAJGS speaker at the conference's Management Seminar has announced that Legacy Family Tree is offering a FREE webinar on the RootsTech Session on Virtual Presentations Roundtable. The RootsTech is a conference being held in Salt Lake City in February. The RootsTech session Virtual Presentations Roundtable will be broadcast as a free webinar on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 1:45 pm MST (3:45PM EST, 2:45PM CST, 12:45PM PST, 8:45PM GMT). To register, please click here.

For genealogy societies this is a great opportunity to try a webinar-- so you can learn more about virtual presentations if you are you unable to attend RootsTech "A New Family History and Technology Conference"(http://rootstech.familysearch.org/). This is a way you can not only participate in a free webinar about virtual presentations, but also attend RootsTech virtually!Learn Virtual Presentation ConceptsWhat better way to learn about virtual presentations than using the actual technology behind this new way of delivering your genealogy lectures? This session will be a panel overview and discussion of virtual presentation platforms, methodologies and how genealogy speakers and genealogical societies can leverage this method of delivering content to expand their offerings to the genealogical community.

With the wider availability of high-speed Internet as well as better and more affordable web conferencing software, many genealogy speakers as well as genealogical societies are looking to virtual presentations for delivery of lectures and workshops.

Panelists

The panelists for this exciting event include well-known genealogy speakersand members of GSG:

As I mentioned recently in the Affordable, Creative Programming IAJGS Management held last July at the 2010 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy hosted by JGSLA I mentioned webinars as method to have speakers available at little or no cost. Legacy Family Tree has been conducting a number of webinars which they then archive on their website for a limited time for free, then sell the CD for a minimal amount. This webinar was held on January 5.

They have announced that their recent webinar on Google for Genealogists facilitated by Tom MacEntee is now archived and available for FREE until February 5 and then is available for purchase on CD for $9.95. http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/webinars.asp scroll down to "Listen to Our Archived Webinars" and click on Google for Genealogists.

While at the site look to see what other webinars have been archived and are available for purchased on CD.

I have no affiliation with Legacy Family Tree and pass this along for any possible programming interest by JGSs.

For those researching military files the National Archives and Records Administration (USA) has released a new series which primarily consists of command chronologies of U.S. Marine Corps units that served during the time of the Vietnam Conflict, and includes the records of those units that served in Vietnam as well as domestically and throughout the world. This series of records was created between April 1962 and June 1987, it contains documents that describe events that occurred as early as April 1952. See: http://tinyurl.com/4fvnssvoriginal url: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/marine-corps/command-chronology-additional.html

There are four common sections of information: organizational data, narrative summaries of events, accomplishments and losses, sequential listings of significant events within the unit, and supporting documentation. More extensive chronologies include lists of commanders, lists of staff officers, lists of location(s) where units were stationed, lists of awards and training received, lists of operations participated in, situation reports, and records relating to community relations activities. Click on the box on the right: Command Chronologies Report or go to the site directly at: http://tinyurl.com/462tnn9The original url is: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/marine-corps/command-chronology.html and then scroll down to index to reports to access which of the series you want to research.

The US State Department has announced it will change some of its terminology on passport applications reflecting gender neutrality. The words "mother" and "father" are being removed from passport applications and replaced with terms "parent one" and parent two". This is being done, according to the State Department "to provide a gender neutral description of a child's parents and in recognition of different types of families".